Straight No Chaser - A Jazz Show

Podcast 559: Noah Preminger Takes a Stand

Straight No Chaser is the place for jazz lovers (and those who will soon be jazz lovers) to enjoy podcasts with their favorite music and artists. Winner of the 2017 JazzTimes Readers' Poll for Best Podcast, your host Jeffrey Siegel will take you inside the world of jazz, from the new releases to the best festiva;s to remembrances of jazz legends.

With the release of Meditations on Freedom,
Noah Preminger takes a stand against what he perceives as
difficult, even dangerous times to be an artist, to say nothing of
an American. While it’s the third album featuring the tenor
player’s current quartet - Jason Palmer (trumpet), Kim Cass
(double-bass) and Ian Froman (drums) – it’s his first to take
classic protest songs and mix them with his own compositions that
reflect the tumultuous times in which we live.

It only took a few weeks from the project’s genesis – a
political conversation with his friends and engineer Jimmy Katz –
until the band had completed a series of urgent, one take tunes.
Whether covering Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke or George Harrison, or his
own topically titled work – “The 99 Percent,” “Women’s March,”
“Mother Earth,” “Broken Treaties,” “We Have a Dream,”- there is
great power, emotion, and even a little bit of hope in the
album.

I talked with Noah way back in
Podcast 380, and since then he has grown in stature and
artistic spirit. Preminger’s previous albums Dark Was the
Night, Cold Was the Ground and Pivot: Live at the
55 Bar justly earned wide acclaim for their emotional
intensity and individualist engagement with the blues. He followed
those with a set showcasing his more intimate, romantic side with a
collection of ballads, Some Other Time, released
exclusively as a vinyl LP by
Newvelle Records. He recorded this with a dream band featuring
old collaborator Ben Monder, bassist John Patitucci and drummer
Billy Hart.

Podcast 559 is my conversation with Noah, as we discuss the
latest album, how he feels he can make a statement in the Trump
era, and where his talents will lead him next. Musical selections
include “The 99 Percent,” “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth,”
and “Broken Treaties”.

About the Podcast

A blog with interviews, reviews, features and podcasts on jazz of the past, present and future. Two time winner of the JazzTimes Readers' Poll for Best Podcast.